Matt Oliver

​If you were at Escape From Wonderland in San Bernardino, you would've undoubtedly seen the bunnies, the Indians, candy ravers and all the costumed superheroes over the weekend. (Read our review here.) After the jump, the 10 hottest we saw.More >>

themtgrave.com

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Every year different horror themed mazes pop up during the Halloween season, most of the time not returning the following year. I'm pretty much determined not to waste my money on a lot of first time attractions because they are usually overpriced, small, unorganized and well, not that scary.

Being in its third seventh year of operation, The Empty Grave returns to The Anaheim GardenWalk in the Disneyland area to offer up some screams. Though the $13 single general admission ticket may seem a little steep for a maze lasting about five minutes, they do offer some different discount packages for those coming in groups such as two tickets for $20 and five tickets for $40, making it a little bit easier on the pocketbook.

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Last October, Daiana Feuer of the New LA Folk Festival put together a Halloween event at the Echoplex to celebrate the "dark side of folk." Murder Ballads was a monstro event, with 14 acts putting their spins on death via the legends of Jesse James, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Henry, Wild Bill Jones and many more. "We hope people learn a little about this particular pillar of music history, and it seems only right to do it around Halloween," Feuer said.

This Thursday, Oct. 20, Feuer and company are doing it again. The New LA Folk Festival, LA Record and Grand Ole Echo team up to host The Return of Murder Ballads, a Halloween tribute show dedicated to timeless songs about killers, scorned lovers and evildoers. This time, The Americans, Leslie Stevens, T.O.M (Troy Murrah of Restavrant) and more will add their own melodic and theatrical twists to old folk songs written about some of the most famous murder tales in history.

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failblog.org

Massive Monster Fail

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Well, it finally happened. Monster Massive 2011 was canceled today despite Go Ventures'  enthusiastic claims to the contrary. Armin van Buuren's Armin Only Mirage show dropped out of the festival due to "reasons beyond their control." Erick Morillo also bailed on the clusterfuck that has been Monster Massive 2011.

Luckily, ticket company Flavorus will refund tickets to Monster Massive. Flavorus said it will begin the refund process later today.
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The spookiness begins!

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Location: Sinister Pointe; 453 S. Associated Road, Brea. (In the Brea Plaza Center, also home to a relatively rare strip mall Borders. An attraction year-round!)

Low Down: Two "terrifying" mazes: the "interactive" Fear and Silent Hill, based on the popular series of video games (and, to surely a much lesser extent, the not-at-all-popular 2006 Sean Bean-starred movie). Don't be misled by the term "maze," though (theirs, not ours); both are pretty traditional, linear haunted houses rather than anything like a cornfield maze, though I did get rather disoriented and turned-around towards the beginning of Fear--though that doubtlessly had to do more with my own general lack of awareness (every day I don't walk into a wall because of Twittering on my iPhone is simply prolonging the inevitable) than the attraction's design. There's also, apparently, a "scare zone" called the "Slaughter Yard," which we actually didn't notice while there. Sad times.
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​Location: Knott's Scary Farm 
8039 Beach Blvd. | Buena Park, CA 90620

Low Down: Knott's is doing it a bit differently this year. If you couldn't tell from the hordes of sprinting ghouls featured in their new ads, they've tried to take the experience from a death march to a rabid chase. Vamping up their production scale and conjuring forth hundreds more creatures of the night, Knott's has definitely taken a step in the right direction. The elaborate detail and artwork of the mazes alone are enough to prompt a first-time visit, but if you can sit and watch The Ring like it ain't no thang, don't expect a particularly butt-clenching experience. For the "I don't feel like spending hours watching 15-year-olds suck face" crowd, Knott's hath bestow-eth unto you beer gardens to provide you refuge!

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